Machine to Machine (M2M) communications can be described as a system that enables an “Internet of things,” and involves information exchange between a subscriber-type station and a server device located in a core network through a base station or between subscriber-type stations that may be carried out without any human interaction.
FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary high-level system configuration for an IEEE-802.16-based M2M-type communications network 100. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of M2M-type devices 102 are wirelessly connected through an IEEE-802.16-type base station BS 103 to an M2M-type server 104. Each M2M-type device 102 provides IEEE-802.16-type M2M functionality. M2M-type server 104 is an entity that communicates with the one or more IEEE-802.16-type M2M devices 102. M2M-type server 103 also has an interface that can be accessed by an M2M-type service consumer 105. An M2M-type service consumer 105 is a user of M2M-type services, such as a power utility company. M2M-type server 104 may reside within or outside of a Connectivity Service Network (CSN) 106 of a mobile network 101 and provides specific M2M-type services for one or more IEEE-802.16-type M2M devices 102. An M2M-type application runs on the IEEE-802.16-type M2M devices 102 and the M2M-type server 104.
The exemplary architecture of an IEEE-802.16-based M2M-type communications system, such as that depicted in FIG. 1, supports two types of M2M-type communication. The first type of M2M-type communication is between one or more IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type devices 102 and an IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type server 104, and is indicated at 108 in FIG. 1. The second type of M2M-type communication, indicated at 109 in FIG. 1, is a point-to-multipoint communication between an IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type device 1102 and an IEEE-802.16-type base station BS 103. Additionally, the architecture of an IEEE-802.16-based M2M-type communications system allows for an IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type device 102 to act as an aggregation point for both IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type devices 102 and non IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type devices 107. The non IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type devices 107 use a different radio interface, such as an interface based on the IEEE-802.11 standard, the IEEE-802.15 standard, etc. Additionally, a peer-to-peer (P2P) connectivity between IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type devices 102 and non IEEE-802.16-type M2M-type devices 107 may also be supported (as depicted by dashed lines) in which the P2P connectivity may occur over an IEEE-802.16-based radio interface or over an alternate radio interface, such as an IEEE-802.11-based radio interface, an IEEE-802.15-based radio interface, etc.
Currently, there is no efficient way to for a base station (BS) operating in an IEEE-802.16-based communication system to designate an M2M group delegate for a group or aggregation of M2M-type and non M2M-type devices.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements depicted in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. The scaling of the figures does not represent precise dimensions and/or dimensional ratios of the various elements depicted herein. Further, if considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding and/or analogous elements.